Ḥāl

ḥāl, (
Arabic: “condition”, ) plural Aḥwāl, in Ṣūfī Muslim mystical terminology, a spiritual state of mind that comes to the Ṣūfī from time to time during his journey toward God. The aḥwāl are graces of God that cannot be acquired or retained through an individual’s own efforts. When the soul is purified of its attachments to the material world, it can only wait patiently for those spiritual gifts of God, which, when they come, fill the Ṣūfī with the desire to continue his journey with new energy and higher expectations.

The aḥwāl are distinguished by most Ṣūfīs from the maqāms (spiritual stages) in two main aspects. First, the aḥwāl are usually transitory; like flashes of lightning they come into the heart and disappear. Second, while aḥwāl denote a gratuitous favour of God, maqāms are granted solely on merit and efforts.

Though the Ṣūfīs spoke of hundreds of aḥwāl, the following are among those most often referred to. (1) The ḥāl of murāqabah (“watching”) fills the Ṣūfī with either fear or joy according to the aspect of God revealed to him. (2) The ḥāl of qurb (“nearness”) is a state that enables the Ṣūfī to become unconscious of his own acts and to see God’s acts and bounties toward him. (3) The ḥāl of wajd (“ecstasy”) is a state described by the Ṣūfī as a sensation that encounters the heart and produces such varied effects as sorrow or joy, fear or love, contentment or restlessness. (4) In the ḥāl of sukr (“intoxication”) the Ṣūfī, while not totally unaware of the things that surround him, becomes half-dazed because his association with God dims his sight of other things. The overpowering sense of the beloved in this state destroys the mystic’s ability to distinguish between physical pain and pleasure. Ṣahw (“sobriety”) immediately follows sukr, but the memories of the previous experience remain vivid and become a source of immense spiritual joy. (5) The ḥāl of wudd (“intimacy”) is characterized by “the removal of nervousness, together with the persistence of awe.” The Ṣūfī becomes calm, contented, and reassured, but the overwhelming sense of the divine presence fills his heart with the kind of awe that is free from fear.

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